Escondido school wins distinguished award

ESCONDIDO -- L.R. Green School has been selected as a 2006
California Distinguished School, Escondido Union School District
officials announced Monday.

The 732-student elementary school in southeast Escondido was the
only one of the district's 17 elementary schools to be nominated
for the honor given to schools throughout California each
spring.

"People work well together there," Escondido Union
Superintendent Mike Caston said Monday. "The welfare of students is
their main thrust. Everything they do moves the school in the
direction of improving academic achievement levels."

Distinguished schools are selected based on their educational
programs, such as their use of high quality, standards-based
instruction and standardized test scores. Only elementary schools
were eligible for the award this year.

California Department of Education officials said they were
still informing the winning schools Monday afternoon and that
they'll release the official list of distinguished schools
today.

In San Marcos Unified School District, officials said they were
still awaiting word Monday afternoon about whether either of their
nominated schools -- Paloma and Discovery elementary schools -- had
won a distinguished school award.

Poway Unified School District spokeswoman Sharon Raffer said
officials there knew they had at least one winner, because the
district received a congratulatory letter from state schools
Superintendent Jack O'Connell, but it didn't name the winner.

Poway Unified officials were still waiting to hear the number
and names of the winners, Raffer said.

Teams that evaluated campuses in the running for "distinguished"
status visited two of the district's schools earlier this year, she
said. She declined to provide the names of those schools, saying
district officials were told not to discuss the awards before 10
a.m. today.

In Escondido, Caston said L.R. Green's selection is the first
time in several years that an Escondido elementary school has been
selected as a distinguished school.

L.R. Green Principal Darren McDuffie said that simply applying
for the award had been beneficial to the school as it undertook a
process of self-evaluation and introspection.

"It's been a great journey here," McDuffie said. "It was a time
for us to reflect and really see some of the great things that are
happening here at L.R. Green."

Last year, the school improved its already high score on the
Academic Performance Index, a state measurement largely determined
by standardized test scores. Schools can earn between 200 and 1,000
points on the Academic Performance Index, and those with scores
above 800 are considered to be doing well.

L.R. Green increased its score from 854 in 2004 to 880 in 2005,
according to the California Department of Education.

McDuffie said regular student assessments coupled with
collaboration, communication and feedback between the principal and
his teachers all have contributed to students' success. Teachers
focus very closely on the individual needs of each and every
student, he said.

"The reason that I think we even moved from (854) to 880 is the
fact of our assessments," McDuffie said. "We're getting more
targeted with what the needs of our students are through our data
management system."

The distinguished schools will be honored May 26at Disneyland,
where each school will be presented with a plaque and a flag.